Commercial eviction is a different discipline from residential work. The landlord tenant laws that dominate the news, just cause rules, rent caps, and Tacoma's Fairness Code, govern residential leases. Your warehouse, storefront, or office suite plays by older, faster rules, and most of the advice published online quietly assumes you are renting out a house.
We spend our weeks representing landlords, so the recurring patterns of commercial default, the underfunded franchise, the restaurant behind on percentage rent, the tenant claiming the landlord breached the lease to excuse nonpayment, are familiar territory. Our unlawful detainer actions are built for Pierce County Superior Court and for the long term value of your commercial real estate, not just this quarter's rent roll.
“A defective notice can hand a defaulting tenant months of free occupancy.”
You can move more quickly than a residential landlord, but the lease controls almost everything, and sophisticated tenants arrive with legal counsel and counterclaims ready.
Four rules shape every commercial eviction in Washington before anyone reaches a courtroom.
Commercial evictions proceed under RCW 59.12, not the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act. No just cause requirement, no rent caps, no relocation assistance. The protections written for residential landlords and tenants do not transfer to commercial property.
Notice periods, cure rights, default definitions, and personal guarantees all come from your lease terms. A well-drafted lease shortens the path to possession; a vague one lengthens it. We read the lease before we promise a timeline.
The statutory notice to pay rent or vacate runs on a shorter clock than the residential version. Service still must follow the statute exactly, because a commercial tenant with counsel will attack the notice first.
Even in commercial settings, changing locks or seizing equipment without a court order invites damages claims that can exceed the unpaid rent. The unlawful detainer process exists to get you possession without handing the tenant a lawsuit.
An uncontested commercial case in Pierce County typically runs four to six weeks from notice to writ.
We review the lease agreements, guarantees, and ledger, then confirm the default and the notice the lease requires.
When the cure period expires, we file the unlawful detainer in Pierce County Superior Court.
At the show cause hearing we pursue possession plus unpaid rent, fees, and damages the lease allows.
The sheriff restores the commercial property to you; we advise on guarantees and collection.
Commercial evictions follow RCW 59.12 statewide, so the same process applies in every county we serve.
Lockouts and equipment seizure without a court order expose you to damages claims that can dwarf the rent owed. The court route is faster than defending the lawsuit a lockout invites.
We will map the fastest lawful path to possession and quote the fee before you commit.
